CLEVELAND, Sept. 30, 2016 (IEEFA.org) — The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis today announced the appointment of several new energy data analysts. The appointments expand IEEFA’s coverage of global electricity markets and sharpen the institute’s focus on fast-changing Asian-Pacific electricity markets.
Joining the IEEFA team:
Yulanda Chung, the former head of Standard Chartered’s sustainable finance team in London and Singapore, where she was responsible for the bank’s governance procedures on sustainable lending and investments and for advising on environmental and social issues. Before her work at Standard Chartered, Chung was an equity analyst for the mining and building materials sectors at Sustainable Asset Management (now RobeccoSAM) in Zurich and was responsible for the sectors’ Dow Jones Sustainability Index selection. Chung will provide in-depth analysis of the risk of coal and coal-fired power sector investments in Indonesia, the largest exporter of thermal coal in the world, and the world’s fourth most populous country.
Sara Jane Ahmed, an investment advisor for the U.K.-based Castle Cove Investments, specializing in originating and structuring energy opportunities in emerging markets. She has worked also for the World Resources Institute and Grameen Bank. Ahmed will focus on energy-sector dynamics in the Philippines, which is at a policy crossroads for how it will provide cost-effective electricity to its residents.
Simon Nicholas, a fellow at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales with 16 years of experience in the finance industry at ABN Amro, Macquarie Group and Commonwealth Bank of Australia in both Sydney and London. Nicholas’ work with IEEFA focuses on Australian coal exports and associated infrastructure investments and their growing stranded asset risks, as well as tracking the transformations underway in the key electricity markets of China, India and Bangladesh.
Bruce Robertson, a former fund manager who has been a professional investor for over 32 years and has worked with Perpetual Trustees, UBS, Nippon Life Insurance and BT and is an active participant in the national debate on energy issues in Australia. Robertson is leading IEEFA research on the structurally challenged and heavily leveraged Australian gas, gas infrastructure and LNG export sectors.
Chung, Ahmed, Nicholas, and Robertson report to Tim Buckley, IEEFA’s director of energy finance studies, Australasia.
Sandy Buchanan, IEEFA’s executive director, said the expansion is part of a larger push by the institute to analyze the fast-changing global electricity sector.
“These analysts bring a host of analytic insights and experiences in the financial world to the IEEFA team, and will work closely with our personnel in the U.S., India, and the U.K.,” Buchanan said. “While electricity markets are nation-based by necessity, every country is affected by rapidly changing technology and an increasingly cohesive global climate policy along with broader limits to growth in terms of status-quo sustainability and pollution. Energy markets worldwide face the challenge of how to bring electricity at an affordable price to its residents and businesses. IEEFA’s work in the Asia Pacific region will focus on—and help advance—the expanding edge of the global energy transition.”
Buchanan said the expansion will include substantial analysis and reporting on the electricity sectors in Indonesia and the Philippines, both of which are facing major choices about whether to double down on coal investment or ramp up development of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency.
“Our work in the region will include an examination of the investment plans of financial institutions and technology developers in other countries in the region, too, particularly Japan and China,” Buchanan said. “The Asian thermal power generation sector is the last bastion of possible growth for the global seaborne thermal coal sector, which we consider to be in structural decline, with China having passed peak thermal coal imports in 2013 and Japan and India likely to have past peak imports in 2015.”
Media contact: Karl Cates, [email protected], 917.439.8225
About IEEFA
The Cleveland-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) conducts research and analyses on financial and economic issues related to energy and the environment. The Institute’s mission is to accelerate the transition to a diverse, sustainable and profitable energy economy and to reduce dependence on coal and other non-renewable energy resources.
